VIMooZ

 The Sound and The Fury

Oxford Film Festival announced the selections for its 12th annual festival, to be held February 26-March 1, 2015 at the Oxford Commons Malco.

TEDDY BEARS directed by Rebecca Fishman and Thomas Beatty

The Oxford Film Festival, in downtown Oxford, Mississippi, announced the winners of this year’s festival, held February 6 to 9, 2014.  TEDDY BEARS directed by Rebecca Fishman and Thomas Beatty won the award for Best Narrative Feature; and BENDING STEEL directed by Dave Carroll won the award for Best Documentary Feature.  TEDDY BEARS is a dark comedy about three couples who head to the desert to help their friend Andrew heal from the loss of his mother. The friends plan a week of laughter and rejuvenation. Andrew plans a therapeutic orgy.  

“Perfection” and “L.A. Comedy Shorts Festival” have been added to the Oxford Film Festival and Music Festival since the original lineup was announced. A new film, “Perfection” has been added to the line-up and will have its world premiere with the festival. “Perfection” is Christina Beck’s first feature film and was nominated by IFP for best screenplay and selected for their Rough Cut Labs. Beck was awarded the Adrienne Shelly female directing grant. The festival […]

The Oxford Film Festival announced the selections for its 2012 Festival scheduled to run February 9-12, 2012. The festival will screen 11 feature films (narrative and documentary), and over 50 shorts (narrative, documentary, experimental, animated), including music videos.

Narrative Feature

Butterfly Rising (Mississippi), Dir: Tanya Wright, When her brother dies, singer Lilah Belle sets out to escape her grief and embarks on a road trip, but not before coaxing the new-to-town, most scandalous woman in Artesia– Rose Johnson– to go with her. These two broken souls steal a vintage truck and head out on the open road to a fated encounter with the mythical, magical ‘Lazarus of the Butterflies’. What occurs with the strange Butterfly Man transforms their destinies and binds the women together– forever. MISSISSIPPI Premiere.

Cellmates (formerly White Knight) (California), Dir. Jesse Baget, Leroy Lowe, grand dragon of the Texas Ku Klux Klan confronts everything he’s been taught to hate when he’s sentenced to three years of hard labor on a prison work farm, where Warden Merville, dead set on rehabilitating Leroy, chooses Emilio, a Hispanic field worker, to be his cellmate. REGIONAL Premiere.

Dick Night (California), Dir. Andy Viner, Rachel hasn’t been out of the house since being left at the altar two months ago, but some rebound sex tonight and she’ll be over Mark for good… if she can just deal with these vampires. MISSISSIPPI PREMIERE.

Frontman (UK), Dir. Ben Hyland, When the former frontman of ‘Stanley and the Knives’ suddenly dies his old friends and band mates are forced back together after twenty-five years apart. Cracks soon start to appear in their relationships and it becomes clear why they split up in the first place. Frontman is a musical journey of five strangers, becoming friends for the second time. REGIONAL Premiere.

How to Cheat (California), Dir. Amber Sealey, Mark’s decided to do something bad.. MISSISSIPPI Premiere.

Documentary Feature

Happy (California, non-competition), Dir. Roko Belic. A look at the search for happiness.

Holy Rollers: The True Story of Card Counting Christians (Washington), Dir. Bryan Storkel, Holy Rollers follows the rise of the Churchteam, arguably the largest and most well funded blackjack team in America. In their short existence, they have taken millions from casinos. But since every team member is a Christian and some are pastors, there is a constant battle to answer this question: How can you be Christian and play blackjack for a living? In their first year, the team took $1.6 million from casinos, but slowly the teams success starts to fall apart. They haven’t closed a bankroll in over six months and the team is down $450,000. The investors are getting nervous and something has to change. In addition , questions start being raised as to whether someone from the team might be stealing from the bankroll. Is it possible? Of course. But do they trust the players on the team? Absolutely. Maybe. REGIONAL Premiere.

Patriot Guard Riders, (Washington) Dir. Ellen Frick; Another American Soldier Has Died. Who cares? The suffering of soldiers and their families is largely invisible to most Americans. But not to these Americans. ‘Patriot Guard Riders’ is a documentary about a 200,000 strong motorcycle group who attend military funerals to honor the fallen, and to protect grieving families from the Westboro Baptist Church, who descends on the funerals and harasses them. REGIONAL PREMIERE.

Rhino Resurrected, (California), Dir. Keith Shapiro; Against all odds, a beloved and historic record store is brought back to life for two eventful weeks. Can a vibrant community re-emerge in today’s transformed music world? REGIONAL PREMIERE

Showtime (Mississippi), Dir. Ben Guest; This film follows four friends from rural Mississippi on their quest to win a state championship in basketball. Loss. Struggle. Friendship. Love. WORLD PREMIERE.

This is What Love in Action Looks Like (Tennessee), Dir. Morgan Jon Fox,  ’This is What Love In Action Looks Like’ documents the widely controversial and inspirational story of what The New York Times referred to as ‘A modern day message in a bottle.’ MISSISSIPPI Premiere. {jathumbnail off}

 

The 2011 Oxford Film Festival came to a close last weekend, and Mississippi Innocence, the non-competition documentary by filmmaker Joe York, took home the top prize for overall audience favorite.  Two years in the making and produced with Tucker Carrington and the Mississippi Innocence Project at the UM School of Law, Mississippi Innocence tells the compelling story of Levon Brooks and Kennedy Brewer, two men who combined spent over thirty years behind bars for crimes […]

The Oxford Film Festival in Oxford, Mississippi announced their February 10-13, 2011 festival films, panels, workshops and conversations to play on February 10 at the Lyric Theatere, and February 11-13 at Malco Theater. Opening the festival on Thursday, February 10 will be a special Thacker Mountain Radio show, a partner in presenting the film festival. The evening will continue with a screening of two short films. Les Blank’s “Werner Herzog Eats his Shoe,” and Ray […]